


Not Here

by notsugarandspice



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: 90s setting, Alien! Eddie, Alternate Universe - No Pennywise (IT), Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Dad! Richie, Extraterrestrial! Eddie, Fluff, Kisses That Burn, Losers are in late 20s, Mild Language, Murder Mystery, Other, Reddie, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-20
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-03-21 15:33:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13743942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notsugarandspice/pseuds/notsugarandspice
Summary: Richard Tozier was living a rather ordinary life with his wife and a child when something happened in the middle of the night, awakening something in him that was nowhere close to fear.





	1. Prologue

Richard Tozier would want you to know that he was a rather happy man, thank you very much. His life was fulfilling - he had a wife and a son, he lived in suburban New Jersey, his job wasn't too demanding and paid well. His life was better than a lot of people he knew, and he didn't mean to complain, but he hated  _every fucking thing about it._

Starting from the small fact that he carried no real affection for his wife Rachel who looked like a cheap copy of his dead mother, and took more time to be in the salon than any healthy human being should. Their son was unexpected but the only person in the world Richie would take a bullet for. He didn't care that his wife was a worthless piece of crap - he promised to himself that he wasn't going to be one of those people who divorce just because they don't like hearing each other's voice anymore. Not that it was the only problem.

He and Rach had great times together: they were drunk more than they were sober, their apartments were beat-up and ghastly, but they didn't care, they spent nights smoking on the hood of Richie's car and everything was great because nothing was serious. But now they had Timmy, and everything was about him and making his life as painless as possible. They were sort of forced to get their shit together, start working and become a decent family.

Richie was sitting on the couch in the basement of their three-story house, doing some work on his laptop when he heard a loud crash from the outside, one that shook the entire building. He put the computer next to him and ran up the stairs and out the back door, trying to understand what was happening. He saw bright yellow glow emanating from the earth from a significant distance, so he grabbed his bike and took off, curious to see what caused such a riot.

He pulled up to something that he could only describe as a small crater and dumped his bike sideways, peering into the hole. There was a large egg-shaped object in there, glowing a warm yellow color and pulsating, sending some kinds of waves that Richie could  _feel_ rather than see. He crouched down a little and slid from the edge of the crater, slowly making his way to the object.

Richie was almost entirely close to it when he heard another loud sound, and the thing was cracking open in front of him, slowly losing its bright glow. The man stood there transfixed, observing the oddity in front of him. The egg-shelled form was melting and fading away, and something was scrambling out of it, making Richie's skin prickle with both excitement and fear. In his 26 years of age, he never felt so safe and terrified at the same time.  _I literally just found a fucking alien ship. Holy shit._

The tall man walked a little closer to the disintegrating form, trying to figure out what was in it. He got even closer to it when almost all color from it was gone and the only thing left was an odd cocoon in the middle.  _If a thing from Alien pops out, I'm gonna lose my shit._ Richie crouched down on his knees, getting close to the light grey shape on the ground, trying to figure out what was in it and fighting the feeling to touch it. Before he could even think of pulling something stupid, the cocoon stirred and started to slowly melt away, similar to the egg-shaped form. Richie was watching it unfold transfixed and fascinated, taking in every single detail.

As the form disintegrated, he realized that what was inside looked painfully similar to a human being. He would've been disappointed if not for how beautiful the creature in front of him was. It didn't really have skin per se, it was more of a yellow-orange hue cover that plastered over something that had a shape of a male human body, made to perfection. He could only tell it was male by the build - the area where the penis would've been was covered as if by some bandage, but it seems like it really didn't have anything there. There were no nipples either, just smooth outlines of chest and stomach, leading to the legs. The face looked similar to a normal person's too, and there was no visible hair on his body, the head was bold and was also glowing from the ever-changing yellow-orange hue.

Richie leaned over the body, completely fascinated with what he was seeing, growing a dangerous interest in the creature before him. Before he could make any physical motion, the flow of color in the alien's face stopped, and his eyes sprung open staring straight into Richie, first glowing a bright gold and then slowly fading into a dark color that looked almost black in the dark. The eyes seemed to bore straight into Richie's soul and for a couple of seconds he just sat there on his knees, trying to process what was happening.


	2. Day 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The alien gets a name.

_I really should_ _’_ _ve thought this through._ Richie’s brain was swirling in a never-ending loop of _WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK AM I GOING TO DO._ There was an alien form in his arms that didn’t reciprocate because it seemingly passed out, and he didn’t know a thing about extraterrestrial care. All the knowledge he had about things from outer space came from _E.T._ and the _Alien_ films, but this one didn’t look like either; it didn’t really move at all.

After it opened its eyes, Richie stared at it in fascination for about ten seconds before the alien’s eyes shut down and all the gold glow faded away, leaving him with an egg-colored, smooth human-shaped form. Completely taken aback, Richie decided that he was going to go right ahead and _get the fuck away from there_ and leave someone else to deal with that mess. He had a child and a wife (as horrible as she was) and he didn’t have the time nor the mental capabilities to take care of a _goddamn alien._

But as he started walking up the wall of the small crater, he looked back at the seemingly lifeless form and felt a pang of guilt run through him, forcing him to turn back and look at the body again. It was fascinating, really; this thing should’ve landed in some scientist’s backyard, but instead, it disembarked in an empty lot behind the house of a department store owner. _How did I get so lucky?_

Thankfully, the rest of the house and their neighborhood was fast asleep, so he didn’t have to worry about getting too many questions about carrying a lifeless lump. When Richie stepped through the back door of his house, he almost bumped the alien’s head on the doorframe, and if that didn’t terrify him enough, his trip up the stairs was downright knee-shaking.

Richie was, thank heavens, very fit – he did track in high school and college, and tried to keep the whole running routine up after he had Timmy. He noticed instantly how much easier it is to run when you don’t drink or smoke. _Who would_ _’_ _ve known?_

He was carrying the senseless body up the second flight of stairs now, leading up to the attic, knowing full-well that it was the only part of the house that his wife didn’t poke her nose in. That location was not ideal even if it was unoccupied, but Richie was entirely out of options. He might be a bit of a prick, but he wasn’t cruel enough to leave a creature from space lying around by itself in the middle of an empty lot.

An old couch stood in the middle of the room covered by a dusty white sheet. Richie reached one hand out to tug on the bed linen, and carefully deposited the form on it, leaning down gently. Once the body was sprawled on the couch, Richie found himself panicking mildly. _It’s naked. Where are its clothes? Does it even have any? Does it need clothes at all?_ Before he got a chance to decide to do anything, he simply decided to go back to the ship and see if anything was left behind for him to look at.

Richie made his way back to the crater, but as soon as he reached the place that was previously its edge, he discovered that it was no longer… there. The crater has disappeared along with the ship and everything that appeared around it. All the man could do was stare – eyes wide as saucers, and mouth open. _What the fuck happened to all that shit?!_ Before he could process any information, the overwhelming nature of the situation finally dawned on him, and Richie saw black.

 

 

 

_It’s cold. Very cold. I don’t feel good. Why does my head hurt so much? Wait, why am I floating?_ Richie’s eyes shot open, and the first thing he saw was the dark wood ceiling, and he instantly knew he was back in the attic. He was very close to the top of the room, almost touching the wood panels, a large window revealing an enormous grey moon next to his levitating body. Every inch of his body felt numb, and he could barely keep his eyes open, but he managed to turn his head a little to look to the side and confirm his position. What he saw was nowhere close to what he expected.

The body of the alien was floating close to his, its limbs moving smoothly and beautifully as if it was drawing invisible symbols in the air. Its skin was glowing a beautiful orange-gold hue again, giving a soft light to the rest of the attic. It was next to impossible to decipher what was really going on, so Richie stopped trying to pry his brain open, and merely admired the oddly beautiful creature floating next to him.

Mere seconds passed before the alien noticed the fact that Richie was awake, and its head whipped in the man’s direction. It slowly lowered itself back to the floor, landing very smoothly on its feet. It then raised its small hand that resembled a tiny gold mitten, with only a thumb sticking out, and Richie felt his body move, mirroring the landing of the alien. They now stood right in front of each other, and Richie found himself blatantly staring all over the odd creature in front of him.

The first thing he noticed was how small the alien was – it would barely reach Richie’s shoulder if they stood side by side. The egg-colored skin was still visible under the pulsating gold light that Richie now saw came from its veins. Its body looked fairly toned as if it was a young man who worked out just enough to keep himself looking healthy and active, and Richie noticed that it had no bellybutton. And even though Richie couldn’t see any indications of gender, he somehow knew that the alien was more masculine than feminine. But it _was_ hard to tell because of the eyes – large black eyes that weren’t too big for them to look unnatural, but bigger than Richie has ever seen. And the similar gold hue was radiating from it, making them seem like chocolate-colored gemstones with specks of gold.

Before Richie got a chance to say anything, the alien took his hand, and a wave of terrifying warmth coursed through Richie’s body, making his blood warm up instantly. The creature was looking straight into Richie’s eyes, never leaving that contact. Richie’s fingers were tingling, and he could _feel_ his blood everywhere, and it was exhilarating and overwhelming at the same time. The skin on Richie’s hand flashed a gold hue for a second and then the alien let go, putting its own hand in front of its face and examining it. And Richie’s eyes widened because now, all of a sudden, it had all five fingers and small neat fingernails. Richie saw the alien smile. 

“What the _fuck_ …” whispered Richie, his mouth barely moving from shock.

“What the fuck,” repeated the alien, its voice smooth as velvet and sounding a little electronic, like a very well-made robot. Oddly, the only unnatural thing about it was that it wasn't mouthed but rather heard in Richie's head.

Richie couldn’t help but grin, revealing a set of his large teeth. He somehow thought that the alien’s voice would be scary, or extremely high-pitched but it was pleasant, and the bit of oddity in it just reminded him that it wasn’t human.

“Where-“ before Richie got to ask a question, the alien reached out one of his newly formed fingers and poked the man’s large front tooth, causing Richie’s teeth to hurt horribly for a second, reminding him of the pain of braces in its last stages.

The alien let go and poked its own neat row of teeth that Richie guessed just made an appearance. _That deals with the speaking, I guess._ The man clasped a hand to his mouth both from the pain, and the shock of what was happening in front of him. He felt himself sweating from all the blood-boiling experiences of that night, and he suddenly felt very sleepy, his knees starting to give out from mental and physical exhaustion. He didn’t know what to think or do in that situation, but he decided that he needed to find out _something_ before he fell asleep.

“Wh… What’s your name?” asked Richie, figuring that it would be the simplest question to ask.

The alien blinked its large eyes at him for a couple of seconds before turning back and stepping very close to Richie, pointing at the top of his bald head. Richie leaned down a little and saw golden lettering there that kept appearing and disappearing, spelling ‘E-DKSPBK’. _Who in the fucking hell gave this poor creature this kind of a name?_ The creature turned around but kept very close to Richie, craning its neck to look the man in the eye.

Richie swallowed from the proximity of those overwhelming eyes and put a palm to his chest to emphasize what he was going to say.

“Richie. I’m Richie.”

The alien put its small warm hand on top of Richie’s. “Richie.”

Richie grinned wide again. “Right. And you are… E-DKSPBK?”

“Right,” said the alien, nodding his head a little.

“Can I call you something else? I’m sorry to say this, but that name is horrible,” said Richie and scrunched his face and he laughed when the alien tried to imitate his expression.

It then smiled wide and nodded. “Horrible." 

“Okay, great, um, that you agree. Maybe something like… Ed? No, that doesn’t sound good. E-D sort of sounds like Eddie, right?” the creature nodded. “Alright, then it’s Eddie. Eds. Eddie,” said Richie, putting warmth on the last word.

The alien put a hand in the middle of its smooth chest. “Eddie. I’m Eddie.”

“Yeah, I like that. It suits you,” said Richie, and the hue on the alien’s cheeks glowed brighter for a second, his eyes filling with more gold shine.

Eddie then pushed its feet off lightly, and his face was now hovering on the same level with Richie’s, and it reached out its hands to put both of them on top of his head, warm fingers getting lost in Richie’s black curls. Richie felt the already familiar warmth course through him, and he found that he didn’t mind it one bit – reveling in the feeling that this beautiful, odd creature was eliciting in him. Richie looked in fascination how Eddie’s head was growing luscious brown hair that curled perfectly at its ends, very similar to Richie’s but a bit lighter because of the soft golden glow that emanated from them. The alien smiled wide again, and Richie again noticed how full and pink its lips were, and he wondered if the alien touched his mouth when he was passed out. The thought made something deep inside him stir nervously.

“Did you bring me here?” asked Richie, putting both hands on Eddie’s hovering hips to make it pay attention to his words.

“Yeah,” said E-D, and his body flushed gold brighter yet again. 

“How did you find me?” asked Richie, searching the alien’s face for answers, or maybe something else.

“I’m sorry,” the alien’s face suddenly became sad, and Eddie’s body dimmed almost entirely, and it landed back on its feet in front of Richie.

“Why? Why would you be sorry? You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Eddie ran its fingers through its new curly dark brown hair and sighed sadly, pointing through the window at the sky. Richie smiled sadly in response, hoping that someday he will find out where this beautiful creation came from. He felt himself weakening and falling to the floor but before his body landed, it was transported onto a soft surface, and Richie felt himself drift away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this fic is my way of dipping my toes in mystery and science fiction, so bear with me, I'm really trying
> 
> hope you enjoyed <3 leave comments/suggestions/whatever you want
> 
> P.S. The alien understands human language but can only learn to speak it through whatever he hears around him, hence his speech will mostly be a repetition of Richie's words until he learns it well.


	3. Day 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The alien shows the past.

The room is dark and the house seems quiet for a couple of seconds, before the rattling sound of pots and pans bounces off the walls. Richie opens his eyes and he’s met with a faint outline of his outstretched arm occupying the entirety of his king bed. He’s always been a messy sleeper, but even more so after he & Rachel stopped sharing the bed. Now that he’s all alone on his rather comfortable mattress, he’s able to do anything he wishes in that bed.

He pushes off with his palms and stretches his back a little, the head lolling back for a couple of seconds. He’s wearing nothing but his boxer shorts which is not that unusual but he’s never shirtless - he does have a small boy after all. His brows furrow for a moment and then he lifts off, jumping off the bed with more energy than he thought he had.

Richie grabs a plain white shit from one of the drawers and makes his way down the hall, rubbing his eyes all the way. He stops in front of Timmy’s open door and sees that he’s not there anymore. He walks in to take a peak at his dinosaur clock hanging on the wall above the bed and sees that it’s almost 8am. His eyes widen and he sprints down the hall and downstairs, assuming that his son is already having breakfast.

He gets to the kitchen panting and sees Rachel’s disheveled black hair bobbing at the effort of ripping the burnt eggs from the pan. Timmy is sitting on the breakfast table, happily munching on his _Lucky Charms_ , still in his Star Wars pajamas, and hair matching both of his parents.

Richie runs up to his wife, taking the pan from her hands and putting it straight under the water to avoid the eggs sticking to it. She breathes a sigh of relief mixed with irritation and Richie rolls his eyes, knowing what’s coming.

“Did you not think of turning on your alarm for his first day of school?” Rachel’s voice is slightly raised but he knows it’s not for long.

“I set it last night before I worked in the basement - don’t start this, please. It must be broken.” Richie doesn’t spare a look in her direction and makes his way to the breakfast table to kiss the top of Timmy’s head. His son smiled into the spoon without lifting his eyes, too immersed in the _Captain America_ comic laying next to the bowl.

“Tim came bursting into my room, screaming that he’s going to be late for his first day. He’s not even dressed yet!” Her voice has risen an octave, and Richie was getting _really_ irritated that she’s doing this in front of their son.

He takes a deep breath and straightens out to look at her. “I’ll drive him to school. Don’t you worry about your appointments.” He knows his voice is dripping sarcasm, but there’s not an ounce of a lie there.

She seems like she’s going to say something, her cold grey eyes piercing and judgmental. Instead, she turns on her bare heel and walks up the stairs, slamming the bedroom door.

“Sorry, buddy. Mom doesn’t seem to be in the mood today.” Richie sits down next to Timmy behind the breakfast table, looking over his son’s features, a sharp pain shooting through the left side of his chest at the realization of how quickly he’s growing up.

“Daddy, mom is never in the mood. She smiles in the salon sometimes.” Richie’s body flushes with anger and pride at how observant Timmy is.

“Finish up your cereal quick, buddy. School starts in fifteen minutes.” Richie stands up and pinched his son’s cheek, at which the other giggles, some of the cereal spilling from his mouth.

 

 

Richie drove him to school and walked him to the front door, lowering himself down to the ground to check himself over for the 100th time. Timmy bolted to the door as soon as he released him, excited for his first day of school.

Richie was about to pull up in front of his small department store when he slammed on the breaks in the middle of the parking lot, an old woman in a Cadillac almost smashing into the rear of his SUV. _Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck_.

He quickly makes a messy three-point turn and makes his way back to the house, praying that Rachel is gone to the salon by then. He doesn’t see her car in the driveway as he pulls up, sighing heavily from relief. Richie jumps out of the car without locking it and practically _sprints_ to the attic, stumbling a little as he gets to the very top.

He’s breathing heavily, the lack of hydration making the running harder than usual, and leans on his knees to pass the lightheaded feeling. Richie lifts his head up in several moments and sees that the alien is floating above the window again, soft sunlight shining straight through his body. _Does it not have any organs?_

His body straightens in a couple of seconds and he makes his way towards E-D, standing straight underneath its levitating form. The alien floats for the next minute, hands making some invisible shapes, the air trailing behind its fingers covered in golden glow.

Eventually, Eddie lowers its body to face Richie, still levitating a little to reach the other’s eye level. The alien smiles softly without showing teeth, and Richie can’t help but trail the back of his index finger over E-D’s cheek. His touch leaves a trail of golden glow underneath, and Eddie’s eyes shine with something golden again.

“What are you?” asks Richie with softness similar only to speaking to Timmy.

The alien smiles wider now and puts both hands on either side of Richie’s cheeks, and that terrifying and exhilarating heat flashes through the man’s body. He only now notices that the heat doesn’t escape his crotch either, and he knows he’s blushing from what that could mean.

Suddenly, the attic and E-D’s face are gone and he is somewhere else, somewhere where the Sun is occupying most of the sky, and everything glows gold. He feels himself smiling as he’s seeing an almost slideshow of a beautiful world, filled with creatures who look like Eddie, with beige skin that occasionally glows gold. There are smaller versions of the alien, and Richie guesses that those are children, they run around in crystal clear water on top of beautiful white rocks, and it seems like the most breathtaking thing that the man has ever seen.

The ‘video slideshow’ suddenly changes and Richie’s chest tightens as he sees bodies of the aliens laying in a pile under the clear water of what looks like the sea, but everything it still and _morose_. Their bodies aren’t glowing and Richie sees other aliens standing around the shore, their eyes pitch black, all glow gone, nothing but pain in their features.

Richie doesn’t understand what that means, and why so many of them are dead but he feels tears running down his cheeks from the sympathy he feels towards Eddie. His eyes are suddenly fixated on the alien’s face again, and E-D’s eyes are black, the shine gone and they are _empty_ , full of hurt. Richie never wants to see it like that again.

“I’m so sorry. I don’t know what that was, but I’m sorry.” Richie’s voice is cracking and he makes a step closer to wrap his arms around the alien’s small middle.

Eddie doesn’t make a move to retreat, wrapping its small arms around Richie’s shoulders instead. For a couple of seconds the man is terrified that he doesn’t feel the warmth emanating from the alien, but then he feels it, but it’s not scalding anymore - it’s comforting and pleasant.

“Richie,” says E-D quietly, its soft and electronic voice filling the comfortable silence of the attic.

Richie lifts his head from the crook of the alien’s neck and looks him in the eyes, smiling at finally seeing the golden specks in the irises again.

“Yeah?”

“I like you,” says the alien, its eyes now more gold than black, and its whole body glowing.

Richie blushes feverishly and somehow he knows it’s not just friendly admiration. He can’t help but consider what to say for a moment.

“I... I like you too.” The words spill out of him in plain truth, and he brushes his nose over Eddie’s almost automatically.

The warmth coming off it is almost suffocating now but Richie realizes that he wants to bathe in it, and never feel cold again. The alien’s eyes are bright gold orbs outlined by black at the corner of the iris, and its hands are touching all over Richie’s hair, each brush making it silky smooth.

Richie is melting and _feeling_ , and it’s so different and surreal that he doesn’t quite know how to deal with it. He realizes with choking fear that he never wants to let Eddie go.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that chapters are short but I find that it works well for this fic. I have a very clear view of it now and I’m very excited for what’s to come. 
> 
> Please comment <3


	4. Day 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The alien meets Timmy.

Richie doesn’t know how to feel about the changes in his life. All he knows is that everything is suddenly…  _better?_ He wakes up extra early to tickle Timmy out of bed, cook him chocolate chip pancakes, and drive him to school. Richie picks out his clothes the night before, laying them down on the chair, and reads his son a story every night before he drifts off, smiling at the imagery of purple dinosaurs. Richie doesn’t talk to Rachel almost at all, and she seems more than content - everything is just as she likes it to be. She is unbothered, wakes up after Timmy goes to school and spends the entire day shopping or pampering. Richie doesn’t have the heart to tell Timmy this is  _not_ how a mother should behave.

E-D is a constant presence in his life. Every lunch break he returns home, quickly makes himself a sandwich and sits with the alien in the attic. Eddie shows him more clips of its world - the most beautiful, picturesque place in existence. With every touch of this wonderful creature, Richie feels like he’s becoming a better man, a better dad, and a better human being. He smiles at everyone, goes grocery shopping twice a week, and makes an effort to spend more time with his son. He finally voluntarily speaks to his co-workers, especially Ben. His childhood friend has been concerned over the toxic atmosphere in their household but figured it’s not his place to talk. They’re going through plastic-wear inventory when Hanscom finally decides to speak up.

“Rich?”

Richie looks up at him from the clipboard where he’s doing the count of their losses.

“I know it’s not my place to talk-“ Ben stops when he sees Richie roll his eyes.

“Not this again, Haystack.” He starts mouthing numbers again.

“Look, I love Timmy. I really, really do. I think you and Rachel should get a divorce.” Ben walks up a little closer, looking up at Richie with sympathetic dark greens.

Richie sighs in defeat. “Why didn’t I marry someone as sweet as you, Benny boy?”

Ben blushes and walks back to the shelf. “Maybe because you didn’t get me knocked up?”

“ _Ooooh_ , Haystack gets off a good one, ladies and gents!”

They continue the count for a while, the store long closed, but as the hours pass, Richie begins to worry that it might not be the best idea to leave his son alone with Rachel.

“Hey, let’s continue tomorrow. I kind of want to check on Timmy.” Ben nods and gets up from the floor where he was pulling out the boxes to confirm the stock.

“By the way, where do you disappear for lunch all the time?”

Richie stops dead in his tracks and tries to busy himself with stacking the papers on his desk. “Uuuh, just home. Rach doesn’t really do anything, and I need to come back to do the dishes sometimes.”

Ben grabs his messenger bag and a book from the desk on the other side of the office. As owner and manager, they decided to have adjacent space. Richie hates to be alone anyway, and Ben is a great companion to gossip with.

“What, every day?” Ben laughs earnestly. “And I thought  _I_ ate too much.” Hanscom walks back to check that all the lights in the store are off.

“What can I say, Timothy is a growing lad,” says Richie in a British accent, earning another loud guffaw from his best friend.

He makes a mental note to go to the bar with Ben one of these days.  _Maybe when I don’t have an extraterrestrial living in my attic._ But the thought only makes him melancholy.

Richie switches on the alarm, and they quickly make their way out. They wave each other goodbye in the parking lot, get into the cars, roll down the windows and back up at the same time. It’s one of Richie’s favorite routines of the day.

* * *

Richie unlocks the door and instantly tenses at how quiet it is. Nobody is downstairs, and he can’t hear any commotion in the rest of the house. He quickly throws his brown leather messenger bag on the dining chair and makes his way up the stairs. Richie peaks into Timmy’s room - it’s not time to sleep yet, but it’s late enough that he usually just plays toys in his room. His son isn’t there. Richie walks to Rachel’s bedroom and knocks hard, knowing that it will be locked. It’s always locked.

After rapping his knuckles on the door for almost two minutes he finally gives up, putting the ear to the dark wooden door. Richie can hear Rachel’s croaky voice coming from the bathroom and the sounds of splashing water. He knows she’s drinking because she  _always_ drinks when she takes a bath.  _Fucking woman lives in a bathtub._ He irritably punches the door with the tip of his shoe and strolls up another flight of stairs leading to the attic. Richie can feel his heart jackhammering against the ribs, and he doesn’t even want to think of possibilities that might unravel themselves as he gets to the top.

And, just like he suspected, his son is in the attic, actually  _floating_ below the ceiling with the alien, giggling and swirling in the air. Richie feels a wave of nausea overcome him from the overprotective feelings he has for Timmy and he runs up to stand right below him. His hands are shaking, and he can’t get a word out - he’s also terrified of scaring either one of them, so he just stands there as leverage for several seconds. When Timmy does another swirl, and his face is pointed down, he finally notices Richie.

“Daddy!” His tiny finger is pointing at Richie’s horror-stricken face.

The alien first smiles at the intruder but upon seeing Richie’s expression loses some of the glow, and its hands stop moving. It slowly gestures towards Timmy’s body and guides the small boy down, making him float right in front of Richie’s face. Richie instantly wraps his arms around his son, breathing in the scent of bubblegum shampoo. Timmy instinctively positions himself on his father’s hip. Richie can feel his eyes burning with tears a little, and he knows he’s overreacting,  _knows_ that the alien didn’t do anything wrong - that Rachel is at fault here. But he can’t help but feel that he needs to break this situation down somehow. For both his and his son’s sake.

“Buddy, what are you doing here?” Richie pulls his son back a little to look at his small beaming face.

“Mommy left when I asked her to play the railroad, and I was bored. I found him.” Timmy points his finger at the alien that just floats below the window, looking intently at the interaction between the two.

“You can’t tell your mom about Eddie, okay?”

Timmy furrows his brows in confusion. “Eddie? He told me he’s E-D… um…”

Richie smiles for the first time since he got into the house. “That’s its real name. But don’t you like  _Eddie_  more?”

Timmy looks up and grins at the alien who smiles back in return, some of the glow returning to the body. “Sure.”

“Buddy, you have to promise me you won’t tell mom about this.” Richie looks pointedly at his son and pokes him in the side to pay attention.

Timmy giggles and looks at his dad. “Why can’t mommy know?”

 _Shit._ “Because Eddie is  _my_  guest, not your mother’s. She doesn’t need to know, okay?”

His son takes some time to answer, but he gives Richie a small smile after a while. “Okay, daddy.”

Richie beams and kisses Timmy’s cheek, making his son giggle. There’s something warm and happy stirring in Richie’s chest, and he feels happy.  _Content._ He finally looks up to connect eyes with E-D. The alien seems hesitant at first but then a spark of gold appears in its eyes, and it descends, planting its feet on the wooden floor next to the pair.

“I’m sorry,” says E-D, the warm electric sound filling an otherwise empty space.

Richie’s lost in his thoughts for a while, thinking whether he needs to warn the alien not to communicate with his son. But Timmy is looking at him with pure fascination, and Eddie seems to be harmless, so he decides against reprimanding.

“You have nothing to feel sorry for. Timmy likes you.” Richie smiles and the alien mirrors his action.

“I like Timmy.” Eddie touches a hand to Timmy’s bare foot, making the small boy laugh. “I like Richie.” E-D touches the other hand to Richie’s shoulder, and he can feel the heat through two layers of fabric.

But the look that the alien gives him is different than one his son received - it’s pointed and secretive. It seems like it’s holding the secrets of the universe in those large eyes. Richie feels his entire body cover in goosebumps.

His son extends a hand, and the alien touches its fingers to the small palm, and Timmy instantly pulls it back, laughing. “Hot!” 

The two other join in on the laugh and Richie’s eyes get glued to the gold dancing below the alien’s black orbs. Their eyes connect in some giddy attraction that Richie can confidently say he’s never felt before. He walks a little closer and wraps another arm around the alien. He knows how odd this entire situation is, but he can’t find within himself to care. The alien is friendly, doesn’t hurt his kid, and makes his body feel like Jell-O in the best possible way. He squeezes all three of them together, but he can’t help a creeping fear wrap around his throat, making his heartbeat speed up.  _But what now?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was supposed to be a murder mystery, but it's all fluff so far lol
> 
> I also decided to make it Teen rated, since I'm not planning anything too inappropriate for now


	5. Day 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The alien finds.

Richie is running. Running so fast that he can’t feel the weight of his body anymore. It’s a run to save a life, and he finds that the motivation definitely makes it easier. Because he had a glass of white wine for lunch and he  _really_ doesn’t want to do any physical activity right now. But the current situation calls for extreme measures.

It all started with Richie getting home early because of a storm warning. Apparently, there was a hurricane moving towards New Jersey from the south and everyone who didn’t have hurricane windows have been advised to head home and lock up. And he did just that as soon as he got back from lunch. Richie and Ben have been thinking of opening a new store on the other edge of the city because they’ve been getting a lot of business and might be able to afford to expand. He’d been meeting with realtors the whole week to determine the right location and price point, and now that they had that, Richie could breathe out in relief. Except when he got home nothing seemed to be in the right place.

The inside of the house seemed somehow… _rearranged._ Every single thing seemed to be in a new place as if someone lifted objects and placed them miscellaneously. All the drawers and cabinets were open, including the fridge door, and the back door simply wasn’t there at all, as if carefully taken off its hinges. Rachel miraculously agreed to pick up Timmy from school, and they should be home any minute. Richie was starting to seriously panic.

 _Was there a break-in? But if there was, why didn’t the alarm work? And why was the front door locked but the back door wide open? Wait, that actually makes sense._ Richie started walking towards the back entrance, his body alert, eyes dancing with nervousness. He thanked everything right in the universe that Timmy wasn’t home because the boy would want to investigate and this could be extremely dangerous. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion; as if the surrounding atmosphere somehow  _knew_ that something bad was about to happen.

Richie stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he spotted a human-shaped figure standing in the middle of the large lawn of his backyard, staring into the distance. It was eerily quiet. Too quiet, considering there was a gardener at the far corner of the yard, trimming the bushes with oversized scissors like Richie called them. Richie was moving quietly towards Eddie, unable to decipher the mood of the situation, but entirely sure that something was very  _very_ wrong. Eddie was hovering slightly above the ground, and its body emanated no trace of that soft golden glow that Richie grew to love so much. For the first time since the alien appeared, Richie was questioning the physical contact. He was now close enough that he could put his hand on E-D’s shoulder, but something was holding him back. Eddie seemed estranged as if it wasn’t really on Earth at the moment. Air somehow got colder and the wind just… _stopped._

The whole world seemed to have frozen. The gardener dropped the shears and started clutching onto his own neck as if he struggled to breathe. Richie stared horrified for several seconds - everything happened so fast that he didn’t know the right way to react, couldn’t even make his muscles move. His yard was big, and he knew he couldn’t make it there on time to save the man if this was serious, so he snapped out of the trance and quickly touched his pockets for the phone. Remembering that he left it in his messenger bag, he cursed, and that’s how he ended up here.

Running so hard that he can’t remember the right way to breathe. Everything is whizzing past him, or  _he_ is zooming past everything, his feet feel light, but his chest must weigh a  _thousand_ pounds to press so heavy. The man is already on his knees, and his face is beet-red. Richie can even see the spit falling out of his worker’s mouth as he struggles to catch a single breath. It’s complete agony, and Richie wants to go faster, faster,  _faster._

Before he even makes it three feet before the man, Eddie appears right in front of the crouching figure, still hovering and Richie sees the man’s head fall to the ground, eyes-wide-open behind E-D’s leg. Richie finally makes it there, bending around Eddie, and crouches in front of Sam - an ex-convict who’s been working for Richie for  _years,_ trying to earn anything to get back on his feet. Richie wants to cry, and he feels the tears stinging the corner of his eyes. He throws his glasses to the side and rubs his face, chocking sobs taking over his body. It takes him  _minutes_ to realize that this was no coincidence.

Everything since the moment he got home seemed odd. And it didn’t even surprise him that Eddie wasn’t in the attic - it surprised him that it didn’t do anything to prevent this death. Or maybe…it wasn’t trying to prevent it at all.

“Did you do this?” asks Richie quietly, his throat tight.

E-D nods and looks at the body with disinterest. Richie wants to scream,  _anything_ to identify the emotion clawing in his chest but the shock is too overbearing. He sits on his knees and stares Eddie in the eyes, fighting between hate and love he feels for it. There is a connection between them he can’t describe, but he has never felt this separated from  _anyone._ Or anything.

“I found him,” says Eddie, and Richie suddenly scrambles to stand up, clutching onto the grass to grab his glasses.

“Oh, I know that. He’s dead. Right in front of us. Kinda hard to miss, don’t you think?” Richie’s arms are flying everywhere now. So much is happening inside him that he could  _burst._

“I have to,” says the alien and Richie sees it’s expression change to something that resembles sadness. All light is gone, and there is just a shell of a man standing in front of him, vulnerable and seemingly scared.

Richie steps closer, less exasperated but still fuming from what just happened. “You have to  _what?”_

“That,” says Eddie, pointing at the corpse behind them. Richie turns and sees a tear roll down the cold skin of Sam’s temple, and his heart clenches painfully.

“Why?”

Eddie answers with something in his language and looks at Richie all pained and confused. Richie is at  _such_ a loss at what to do. But there is one thing that’s very clear now.

“You can’t stay here anymore.”

Even though the alien doesn’t blink, it sure seems like it did just now. “Why?”

Richie gets closer, accentuating every word. He feels nothing short of protective right now. “Because I have a son. And you kill people. I can’t let you stay here.”

Somehow it seems like Eddie’s color got even paler, and the eyes turned darker, all sign of the golden flecks gone. “I like Timmy. E-D won’t kill Timmy.”

Richie wants to believe that, he  _really_ does but the stakes are too high. There is a creature living in his attic, one that apparently kills people who knows for that reason, and his son is too curious to stay away. He has to make Eddie understand that he is  _not_ welcome in his house anymore, as much as it hurts him to let go. Richie steps even closer and lifts E-D’s chin. He feels like drowning in the dark void of its eyes, the sincerity with which its face contorts in what looks like emotional pain.

“I’m sorry. I really am, but this is  _wrong._ You can’t kill. At least I can’t allow myself to harbor someone who does this. I don’t know if this is your need or something, but I have to protect my family.” Richie’s heart is beating out of his chest from the sincerity of those words. He can’t stand letting Eddie go, but it has to happen. Whatever the reason behind the murder is, Richie can’t allow Timmy to live in this environment.

Eddie’s body lifts up, and it’s now hovering in front of Richie, their faces leveled perfectly. The alien is searching Richie’s face for something, and it’s been almost a minute, but Richie can’t stop looking back, entranced in the way Eddie is studying him. He’s aware of the body behind him and the responsibility that the last month has brought but somehow this moment seems too intimate and sacred for him to do something about it. Richie is just going to allow himself to savor this until he has to say goodbye.

But instead, Eddie unexpectedly leans in and presses its lips to Richie’s. And the man’s eyes are wide open, both terrified with the implications of the move, and the white-hot feel of the alien’s lips on his. Eddie’s body is glowing the brightest gold, so bright that the clouds above them seem nonexistent. The alien moves closer, and the lips start shifting, begging Richie to reciprocate. And he does, eventually. But as soon as he closes his eyes and reaches out to wrap his arms around Eddie to deepen the kiss, he feels the cold envelop him, and when he opens his eyes, Eddie is gone and so is the body.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love this story more and more every time I update  
> I have to much planned, and I'm so excited to share it!  
> this was originally supposed to only be about 10 chapters, but I'm not sure it would fit anymore???
> 
> please comment all your thoughts and emotions <3
> 
> tumblr: notsugarandspice


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